San Antonio’s booming housing market and the nation’s strongest-in-years economy has made it hard for Jon Wayne Service Co. to hire enough workers to keep pace with growing demand.

It’s not just new and rebuilt homes in need of heating and air conditioning services. Residents citywide and across the nation are feeling more secure about job and income prospects, which can mean finally tackling repairs that had been put on hold.

That’s why recruiter Mercy Grimaldo was working a booth at a recent job fair at the Norris Conference Centers, looking for heating, cooling, plumbing and electrical specialists as well as workers for dispatch, the call center and information technology.

“We’re trying to do all kinds of things at one time because of the growth of the company itself,” she said. “When we have this type of growth we need the type of people to do it.”

Photo: Greenwich Time

Photo: Greenwich Time

Image
1of/25

Caption

Close

Image 1 of 25

Photo: Greenwich Time

20 companies hiring like crazy right now

1 / 25

Back to Gallery

Unlike during the height of the Great Recession when laid off workers swarmed job fairs, there was little wait to talk to recruiters from companies like Bob Mills Furniture, an Oklahoma company that plans to add 40 to 50 workers as it expands into San Antonio; or Ruan trucking, which is headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa and is building its presence here.

“The trucking industry, we’re going into a driver shortage,” said recruiter Genevieve Hernandez Connor. “Many of our professional drivers are retiring over the next year. So the industry is going to be very competitive.”

The Texas Workforce Commission reported Texas’ jobless rate rising slightly in January to 4 percent from 3.9 percent in December, but still remained below the national unemployment rate of 4.1 percent. In November, Texas’ unemployment rate dropped to 3.8 percent, the lowest rate on record.